SCHIZOMEGA: Zombies Made in the U.S.A. (Ian McDermott Paranormal Investigator series Book 3)

by David Aslin

  Wobbly kneed from the horrid spectacle, Ian leaned against the wall of the corridor as he attempted to both catch his breath and take-hold of his mind that had for the moment began to spin out of control.

  E returned to Ian’s side. He then spoke in a calm quiet voice. “Much like I suspected the zom’s, they don’t feel pain, you have got to shoot them where it counts. The heart or even better, the head. Given enough time, bullets shot into them pretty much anywhere vital should do the trick, once they bleed out. But, times not a luxury we’ve got, understand? An absolute fast kill shot, that’s the ticket.”

  Ian still staring at the bloody nurse slowly nodded that he understood. He fought hard to suppress his gag reflex. After a couple seconds he took a deep breath, exhaled, the quietly replied, “Yeah, I’ve got it. Head shots!”

  Ian looked down at his feet as he again spoke, “E, she … that nurse, she was, she was eating someone’s brain, A BRAIN FOR GODS SAKE!” Ian exclaimed loudly as he rolled his eyes and shook his bowed head, clearly indicating his near disbelief of the magnitude, the shear horror of it all.

  E turned to Ian and said in a stern voice, “Yeah, well, what you did was stupid! The next time I tell you to do something like say, stay put, you fuckin’ stay put!”

  Ian nodded in agreement as he replied, “Yeah, I mean, yes, I will. It’s just … I wanted to…” Ian, nervously finished his reply, “You’re right, E, that was stupid of me. When you’re right, you’re right.”

  E then motioned to Ian to follow him, both men had to step over the broken body of the nurse to proceed towards cell block, X.

  CHAPTER 17

  BLOCK OF THE DAMNED

  “E, that woman, she was for all intents and purposes, she was dead and alive? Well shit, she was a zombie!”

  E looked back over his shoulder at Ian. “Do I sense a question coming?”

  Ian tried to keep pace with E who was now though very cautiously, walking faster than he’d previously been moving.

  “Well, yeah, I guess. E, Clayton told me that well, regarding people or, regarding your kind and full blood vampires, there is no such thing as the living or walking dead. He said, all things are either dead or they are alive. So, and I know that’s why you say shoot the head to quickly flip their switch to off. I’m guessing that regardless of the myths surrounding, zombies, the same physics apply. Regardless of what all that it takes to create them, the introduction of disease and drugs, the same thing applies, they are living, breathing creatures.”

  E turned around and faced Ian. “That’s right Ian. A thing is either alive or it’s dead, there’s no in between. But, that said, it appears that most of the other shite regarding the supposed myths that deal with zom’s or, zombies, it seems that all the rest is true. My guess is they are highly contagious, and that’s how this whole thing got so quickly out of control. Don’t get bit, no matter what!”

  Ian thought to himself, As heavy and uncomfortable a thought as it is, Thank god, or rather thank E that I’m wearing this shark suit. Too bad I don’t have the matching steel chain-linked gloves. But, if I was wearing ‘em, no way I could use my gun.

  E suddenly stopped, “Ian, do you hear that?” Ian couldn’t hear anything other than the storm surge outside the prison.

  E changed the subject, “Ian, I’m glad you didn’t use your gun on that nurse back there. No doubt, like pretty much any predator, Zom’s are probably attracted to noise.”

  “E, what do you hear?”

  E placed his index finger to his lips, clearly indicating for Ian to be quiet.

  E turned his head slowly from side to side. Much like a dog or wolf would do when attempting to ascertain the source and direction that specific sounds are coming from.

  E motioned for Ian to follow him as he again headed towards the heavy barred doorway that led to cell block, X … now clearly in sight even for Ian.

  Now standing at the open barred doorway to the cell block, both men hesitated before crossing into the next area. E signaled Ian to cover the right side of the room, while he would take the left and center. They stepped into the cell block side by side with guns two hand-held. Acting congruently and as if previously rehearsed, the two men panned their weapons intensely in each of their fields of coverage.

  It was then that both men spotted the one stand out oddity in the room. One of the cell doors was closed, not open like all of the rest.

  Ian and E walked briskly over to the closed cell door. As they got closer to the cell they were both surprised by what they saw next. The room was occupied by five apparent prison staff members; three men and two women, who had obviously locked themselves into the prison cell. After what Ian had encountered regarding the prison nurse not ten minutes earlier, he understood all too well why this might have been their only immediate chance for survival.

  E motioned to Ian to step up and speak to the unwitting inmates.

  Two of the men immediately stood up and came over to the bar-doors. One of the men, a black man, who wore a guards uniform said loudly, “Thank God! Thank God!” Ian immediately motioned with his hand for the man and his associates to keep their voices and the noise level down. The other man, a man of obvious Hispanic decent, who stood next to the guard said, we’ve, we’ve been locked in this room for two, almost three days. We’ve got water…” The man speaking pointed to a small stainless steel sink that was next to its matching steel toilet. The man wore clothes identical to the jump suits that Ian and E were wearing. “But, we haven’t had any food. You wouldn’t happen to have anything on ya?”

  “We might be able to help you with that, but first, let’s get you out of there.” E said, then turned to walk towards the exit where the guard station was located. E knew that there would be a master lever that could be pulled to unlock and open the cell door.

  E wasted no time traversing the cell block. As he reached the guard station in just moments and started to enter the guard booth, E stopped suddenly in his tracks as he saw one male guard kneeling, gorging on another’s throat who was laying on the floor surrounded by viscous pool of his own dark crimson colored blood. E quickly deduced that the guard being feasted on had probably been dead for some time, as there was no blood spewing from his neck indicating that he lacked a pumping heart.

  “Hey, you enjoying that guard tar-tar?” E spoke just loud enough to be heard by the feasting man. The less-than-man immediately turned from his meal and stood up. His face was covered in blood, and his mouth and teeth had dripping blood and flesh cascading from his jowls and chin. The man didn’t speak, he just moaned as he began to rapidly approach E, with his hands held out in front of him like some sort of Frankenstein monster. The man’s eyes were severely bloodshot, and he looked like a person in the most advanced stages of Ebola or Rabies. E could smell the man’s putrefying disease and figured that it was likely that the man had been exposed to those diseases and a whole lot more.

  E neither moved nor made a sound as the rancid cannibal continued approaching him. E didn’t even raise his gun. Once the man was nearly on him E tightened his fist and with one mighty swing punched his fist clear through the man’s skull. Blood and brains sprayed across E’s jumpsuit and splattered his sunglasses.

  E looked himself over then exclaimed, “Shite! That bloody well didn’t bode well for either of us. Filthy bugger.”

  E then went over to the sink in the guard office and grabbed some paper towels and soaked them under the tap of the sink. He removed and cleaned his sunglasses then put them back on. E looked around the room then spotted a console that was marked open/close the cell doors. He didn’t have to use the mechanical lever that was located somewhere else. He just pushed the button open, and with his super-human hearing could hear that the one door three quarters down the cellblock from his position, unlocked.

  Just as E exited the guard station and began heading towards the main entrance to cell block “X” five more blood and flesh drenched carnivorous men started towards him from just beyond the cell
block. E immediately deduced they must have come from the adjacent room across the hall. These men were dressed in inmate’s uniforms, all of their heads were closely shaved, leaving them nearly bald.

  As the men shambled towards E, this time he pulled out of its holster his pistol with silencer and rapid-fired in secession five rounds, within a seconds, five heads quickly exploded as five bodies reeled from the impact of the bullets, then fell hard to the once neatly polished tile floor.

  E thought to himself how much easier that was, not to mention cleaner for him. But, in that he only had just so much ammunition and there could be hundreds of these things to deal with.

  E went back inside the cell block and began heading towards Ian and the newly found refugees; who themselves had left their captive cage and were moving across the cell block rapidly heading towards him.

  Once back together E immediately spoke, “Listen, I probably don’t need to tell you all this, but this place is crawling with, zom’s” Ian turned towards their rescues. “Zoms is what we call them.” One of the ladies spoke, “Zoms, like for zombies, right?” Ian looked her straight in the face as he slowly nodded his head, indicating yes.

  Ian spoke up with a slight smile on his face, “Well, I believe that introductions are in order. It might lesson communication complications and make survival easier if we’re not all referring to each other as, hey you.”

  E took a deep breath, then slowly nodded in agreement, “Yeah, I concur, though don’t expect me to remember all of your names. Chances are I won’t need to anyway, due to the fact…” E stopped himself from finishing his sentence as he looked into the eyes of the people, most of whom were nearly frightened beyond their ability to cope.

  A black man in what appeared to be nurse’s scrubs was the first to speak, “My name is, Jamal, Jamal Robinson. I’m a staff assistant, a CNA.”

  A lady dressed in an obvious nurses uniform cleared her throat and spoke next, “Joyce McMann is my name, I’m, Joyce. I’m one of three RN’s, one per cell floor, who was on shift when all this happened.”

  The rest of the small group began speaking in little more than mumbles as they somewhat role-called off their names and positions. “My name is, Sharon Ingles, I’m a guard, I’ve been a guard here for years. That is, was a guard, that is, before this, I quit! I don’t need no pay check bad enough to battle with no goddamn zombies!” Sharon, a large black lady looked to Ian like she could handle herself in just about any situation, and in fact over the last five years more than once, had done just that on the job.

  One of the men stepped forward. The man appeared to Ian to be in his mid-twenties, “I’m new, been here less than a week. I’m not part of … I didn’t take part of any of the research or whatever was going on here. That’s an entire other thing, that took place in a totally different area that requires special clearance to even get near. All that was being conducted by, another staff that we were hardly ever even in contact with. I don’t know any of what’s been going on down there other than the occasional wild story. You know, gossip and speculation. All that, all this must be the result of whatever they were up to down below in the lower levels. I’m strictly a hospital staff doctor. You know, I mend broken bones and treat bed sores and such. Doctor Tate, Doctor Larry Tate’s my name.”

  The Hispanic man looked up from the floor, I’m an orderly here. That and I do some cleaning and … Emilio. I’m Emilio.”

  E looked them all up and down before speaking. “Okay, now that all of the pleasantries are out of the way. Here’s the situation. We’ve got to search this place to see if there are any more survivors like yourselves that can be saved. We can’t leave this godforsaken place without…”

  Ian nodded in agreement, the rest just stood there glossy-eyed. E reached into his vest and brought out four energy bars. He handed them to the two ladies, “Here, split these up between all of you. It’s not much, but should help you a bit.” He then also handed them some small packets of electrolyte enhanced water. Ian thought to himself, Is there anything that guy doesn’t have in that vest of his.

  E then took the lead, “Listen, we move quickly, but we move as quietly as possible. And for god sake, keep your eyes open. Ian, you take up the rear. You keep your eyes peeled and watch our backs.”

  Ian replied, “Roger. I mean, yes, sir, I mean…” E just shook his head at Ian’s feeble attempt to sound like he knew what he was doing.

  Ian walked up to E. Ian signaled with his head and shoulders for E to follow him away from the others. E complied.

  Once they were a comfortable distance from the others Ian spoke up in a somewhat stern voice. “E, look, I know I’m out of my depth with all of this, but don’t take me as a complete fool. I know there’s something else going on around here beyond what we are seeing now, as if that’s not enough…” E shrugged his shoulders as if to say he didn’t understand what Ian was talking about. Ian continued, “I mean, your so called informants and intel regarding this place. How is it that all of that has been so spot on? I know you said, maybe not in so many words but… I know you said you believed in the stories and all that but…” Ian took a deep breath, exhaled and continued. “There’s been no guess work here on your part at all. I mean you’ve had just the right thing for this and for that. Tell me, and tell me now exactly what the hell’s going on here, and I mean the bigger picture. Or, I’m leaving right now. I’ll retrace the steps we took to get here and I’ll take with me as many of these people that are willing to go with me and leave.”

  E spoke up, “And what? You’re going to take the raft and leave me stranded here? Do you really think I’d let you do that Ian. How far do you think you’d make it without me anyway, if I did just let you leave? Maybe I should just put a bullet in your head right here and now?”

  Ian was shocked to hear those words, but unwavering, he stood his ground. E was impressed at Ian’s resolve. After a few very uncomfortable seconds of silence E spoke,

  “All right, Ian, I’ll admit up until now you’ve been on a need to know. But, since you’re so hell bent on knowing everything, I’m going to tell you the truth of exactly what’s at stake here. And it may come to a surprise to you that I haven’t so much told you lies, as that I simply have held back certain facts. Certain matters that you have probably been better off not knowing. But, here’s what’s going on.” E looked all around for a moment before he began telling him what Ian, at least, thought he should know.

  “There’s a small handful of scientists, doctors, if you will, who have been secretly carrying on the work of their Nazi predecessors. Experiments having their origins beginning during World War Two. I’ve told you enough that I figure you’ve pretty much connected the important dots already, but allow me to fill in some possible gaps that as yet you haven’t fully grasped. The men of whom I speak, these unscrupulous doctors, they and men like them, have been tirelessly, relentlessly working for generations, they’ve been experimenting on the forsaken, captives, and more recently criminal inmates, dating back from Nazi concentration camps, up to now in this godless place. Attempting to create a cocktail of just the right combination of diseases and psychotropic drugs; intended to produce the perfect Manchurian Candidate like hit-men. Killers who feel no pain, and have no minds of their own. Killers who will prosecute without question their masters bidding, with no personal survival concerns. Kamikaze, killers, that even if they should fail to terminate their target, they’re incapable of responding to interrogation and they die soon after being arrested or captured. Thereby leaving no tangible evidence directly linking these zombie-killers to their puppet masters. No loose ends.” E paused with his dissertation as he collected his thoughts.

  Ian reflected on his experiences in the towns of Harmony Falls, Washington and Astoria, Oregon, No loose ends, human life means nothing to bastards, like…

  E looked into Ian’s eyes to see if Ian was fully comprehending what he was saying.

  “Now, these, these zom’s, they kill by attacking like ani
mals whatever they are set on and also whatever gets in their way. The only problem is they were engineered to not be communicable; and it turns out that they sure as shite are! The zom’s roaming this prison, they’re an even worse nightmare than if the experiment would have successfully reached fruition. Not only is their disease communicable through blood transference, but moreover by their bite. They haven’t yet been brainwashed, or programmed, and from what we have seen so far, they may not be capable of programing. Programmed to go after a specific target. So, they are on an absolute mindless random rampage, seeking and eating any flesh they can lay their hands on. Don’t make the mistake of trying to reason with one. And remember, most of the originally infected, were criminally insane long before they were being turned into zombies.”

  Ian replied, “It’s the Schizomega effect, the one that I…”

  E interrupted, “Exactly!”

  “Why else do you think the council handpicked you to assist me with this? Well, other than your death wouldn’t upset many of them, besides Clayton that is. You being Clayton’s momentary muse anyway, fair-haired boy and source for his books. He for one wants you to live to tell the tale so to speak. Well that and, as much as he’s capable, I think Clayton genuinely likes you. Sometimes I think that Clayton is more human, so to speak, than he would ever want to admit. Or would ever let any other member of the council know. They‘d consider that a weakness. One thing you can never be seen as by the council is, being weak, or you will be replaced. And they have a shite retirement plan if you understand my meaning.” Ian sighed as he nodded his head, indicating clearly that he understood.